Saturday, February 4, 2017

Tall Poppy Syndrome

In the inimitable war novel Catch-22 – there is a character called “Major
Major Major Major”

(For brevity – let’s call him “Major Major”)

“Major Major” is a simple unassuming amiable officer
who is liked by everyone – officers and enlisted men.

One day – the Squadron Commander Major Duluth
is killed in action – and – “Major Major” is appointed the Squadron Commander.

Suddenly – everything changes for “Major
Major”.

The very same people who earlier loved “Major
Major” – now – their attitude towards “Major Major” changes – and – everyone starts
resenting his success

Many of his fellow officers have feelings of
envy and animosity towards “Major Major” once he is promoted to Squadron
Commander.

The most acrimonious and spiteful of them is Captain
Black who believes that he himself was the logical choice to replace Major
Duluth as Squadron Commander – and – grave injustice has been done by
appointing “Major Major” as Squadron Commander.

Captain Black uses various stratagems to
sabotage and humiliate “Major Major” – and – cut him down to size.

This is an example of the “Tall Poppy
Syndrome”.

Thanks to his “success” – “Major Major” is a
victim of the “Tall Poppy Syndrome” – which results in hostility towards
successful people.

The “Tall Poppy Syndrome” is a culture where “successful”
people are resented, attacked, cut down or criticized because of their success.

(Successful People are called “Tall Poppies” – and – cutting them
down to size is called “Tall Poppying”…)

In an organization – the “Tall Poppy Syndrome”
can cause in destructive feelings in work-colleagues of the successful person –
which can lead to resentment, hostility and “envy attacks” on the “successful”
person.

The “Tall Poppy Syndrome” is visible in
personal relationships too – in families, friend-circles and in society – where
we often see a tendency to resent and disparage successful people due to envy.

In a nutshell – the “Tall Poppy Syndrome” is
hostility towards successful people and manifestations of that resentment.

There are many mythical stories about the
origins of the term “Tall Poppy Syndrome”.

In one such apocryphal story – a young son of
a King conquers a new land.

The young son asks the King for advice on how
to deal with the newly conquered kingdom.

The King – who is strolling in the garden in
a grove of poppies – draws his sword – and – with his sword – the King strikes
off the heads of the tallest poppies in the grove.

The King’s son gets the message – and he
methodically proceeds to kill all the prominent men (the “tallest poppies”) in
the newly conquered land.

Once the influential men are eliminated – the
son is able to easily govern the conquered land.

The term “Tall Poppy Syndrome” may have been
probably derived from this apocryphal story.

Another fable hints that the underlying
premise of the “Tall Poppy Syndrome” is that the tallest plants be cut down to
the same size of all the others (cutting down to size)

So – in today’s world – “Tall Poppying” successful
persons – probably means – trying to “cut them down to size”.

Don’t we see examples of the “Tall Poppy
Syndrome” all around us…?

I saw plenty of instances of the “Tall Poppy
Syndrome” in the Defence Services – where career prospects are limited due to
the pyramidal hierarchy structure – and – it is very difficult to get promoted
to high rank – which results in a large number of deserving officers getting “superseded”
or “passed over” for promotion.

Many “superseded” officers feel a sense of
resentment and envy towards their successful course-mates and try to “Tall
Poppy” them.

You will see plenty of examples of the “Tall
Poppy Syndrome” everywhere – in politics, in the corporate sector, in society,
in families and personal life too.

The “Tall Poppy Syndrome” manifests at the
societal level too.

One example is the cultural resentment
against “migrants” who are more “successful” than the original inhabitants of a
country.

Information Technology has been a catalyst in
proliferation of the “Tall Poppy Syndrome”.

Nowadays – the Social Media has become a ubiquitous
medium for “Tall Poppying”

People can easily express their resentment
against “successful” persons on the Social Media – and such online “Tall
Poppying” of an individual on the Social Media can go “viral” very fast and
have a devastating effect on the victim.

(People frequently begrudge something to others that they
themselves cannot enjoy. Even if it does them no good – they won’t let others
have it – like the mythical dog in fable – the dog in the manger who did not
eat grain – but who nevertheless prevented the horse from eating the grain
either)

Or – is it just basic human nature…?

Well – I really don’t know – but – I have
been on both sides of the fence as far as the “Tall Poppy Syndrome” syndrome is
concerned.

Dear Reader:

Have you experienced the “Tall Poppy Syndrome”
– as a “victim” – or – as a “perpetrator”…?

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About Me

A creative person with a zest for
life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated
at IIT Delhi, IIT (BHU) Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School
Pune, Vikram has published two books:COCKTAILa collection of fiction short stories about relationships
(2011) andAPPETITE FOR A STROLLa
book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and is currently working on his novel, writing short fiction and compiling his memoirs. An avid
blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories, creative
non-fiction articles on a variety of topics including food, books, travel, philosophy, academics, technology, management, health, pet parenting, teaching stories, self help and art of living essays in magazines and journals and published a number of professional research papers and reviews and edited in-house magazines and journals for many years, before the advent
of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to
creative writing and blogging. Vikram Karve lives in Pune India with his family and muse -
his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative
thoughts.